How to Gain Quality Feedback from Your Critique Partners

In my last post, I covered How to Pick a Good Critique Partner. Today I will cover what to do next to gain quality feedback from that partner, communication being the key factor:

Be specific about the kind of feedback you want. State what you want and when you want it, and be as clear as possible. This is important because if you give your critique partners little-to-no direction, then their comments will likely reflect this. For example, if you’re uncertain about your dialogue, then ask them if your dialogue works. You could even ask something as vague as, ‘I know something isn’t working in this scene, but I don’t know what it might be’. Note: don’t ask for your partners to look for too many things. A giant list of questions about your work will only overwhelm them.

State the genre and the target market. Don’t let your critique partners go in blind when you hand over your manuscript. It’s important they know what genre and market you are aiming for. What may work for a crime novel, may not work for a fantasy. Likewise, what may work for adult fiction, may not work for young adult. Knowing these details about your story will help your critique partners focus their comments.

Be specific about when you want the feedback. Be sure to give your critique partners plenty of time to go through your manuscript without rushing. However, without setting a finish date, you could be waiting a long time.

Nurture open communication. This is so you can easily clarify any comments your critique partners make. A relationship between writer and critiquer is far stronger if both parties feel comfortable with each other. There’ll be a better chance of gaining truthful comments, not comments the critiquer thinks the writer wants to hear.

Use more than one critique partner. Three critique partners will give you a clearer overview of your work than just one. What one person doesn’t like in your manuscript, two others may love. When there is a conflict in the feedback, I tend to go with the majority.

Approach your feedback with an open mind. Sometimes writers won’t recognize fantastic feedback because deep down they don’t want to hear their baby needs more work. While critiques are simply opinions, if you’ve picked your partners well, then most of those opinions will be educated. It’s worth listening to them. This doesn’t mean you should treat those opinions or suggestions like the law. Weigh everything you hear and then decide for yourself whether you agree, but do it with an open mind.

Do you struggle to get helpful feedback?

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How to Handle Criticism

It's every writer's dream to find success in publication, however, be prepared. When you write for publication, you go public. You put your talent, skill, personality on the line and open yourself to criticism. While it's not always easy, here are a few things to help you handle criticism when it comes your way:

Discern whether or not it is criticism. For example, rejections aren't criticisms. They are simply a part of a writer's life. They don't mean your writing is terrible.

Use criticism as an opportunity to learn and improve. If the criticism you hear is valid, then take the opportunity to consider it and learn from it.

Don't get defensive. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and not everyone has the skill to give those opinions without sounding like an attack.

Don't react. Let your critics say what they need to say, but don't publicly respond no matter how much you feel the need to justify yourself. Without fuel to feed the criticisms, they will pass on soon enough.

Don't dwell on the negativity. Negativity isn't worth your time or energy. Don't make it your problem.

Remember it's not always about you. The fern frond image you see above is one I created for a 3D art contest. When I won, I didn't expect the backlash that followed. Many of the competitors felt my image didn't encapsulate the official "Rebirth" theme. Although much of what they said came across as a personal attack, I had to remind myself there was nothing personal about it. They were angry at the judges, not at me.

Be confident. Being confident will get you through many situations in life. Even if you are quaking inside, pretend to be confident. It's empowering.

Have you ever experienced harsh criticism? If so, how did you deal with it?

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A big shout out to Komal Lewis. I won a $15 Amazon gift voucher in her generous giveaway celebrating 100 followers. Thanks, Komal.

The Case of the Eggshell Skin

When I first started writing I didn’t want anyone to read my work. My stories said too much about me. They exposed my inner self. I didn’t want people to judge my writing because I felt as if they judged me instead.

I had skin made of eggshells. Aware of my fragility, I used to seek only approval so that I’d avoid the chance of cracks. It got me nowhere.

Now that I’ve been writing for a few years, my skin has grown a thick rhino layer. How did I do this? My thinking changed. I wanted to improve. I wanted my best work out there. I wanted to be proud of my words. And that meant manning up. I had to let other people read my work, judge my work, tell me my work sucked. I couldn’t allow rejection to break me. I needed to learn. I needed to accept that I can’t please everyone.

Of course, my rhino skin isn’t completely impervious. I still have days I let the doubts creep in. But that’s because I’m human… and a writer.

What’s your skin made of? How do you keep your skin thick? How do you handle criticism and rejection?

When Editing Doesn’t Work

Sometimes when we write we fail to achieve clarity and, no matter how much we edit, the piece won’t work. This happens to the best of us and it can be a frustrating experience. It happened to me this week while I attempted to write a blog post. The piece drove me crazy. I got to the stage where I felt all I was doing was shuffling words around. So, what do we do when this happens?

We have 4 options:
1. we can persevere and hope the editing will eventually iron out the kinks;
2. we can deicide it’s a lost cause and abandon the piece;
3. we can decide it’s good enough;
4. we can set it aside for a while with the plan to come back to it at a later stage.

In my opinion, the fourth option is the best choice. Time is an editor’s best friend. Time allows the writer to step back from their work and view their writing with a certain level of detachment.

The amount of time you set aside is up to you. Sometimes you’ll need only an hour. Other times you’ll need a day, a week, or even a month. In the case of my blog post, all I needed was a shower and some breakfast to see where it needed fixing.

Other ways of gaining a fresh eye for editing:

Read your piece out loud. It might feel strange at first, but it has a way of highlighting the rhythms of your words. It’s equivalent to an artist holding up their painting to a mirror. Seeing the art in reverse gives the artist a new way of looking at it. When you read your writing out loud, you’ll discover it’s easier to find the flaws.

Have someone else read your piece. Getting feedback from a range of different people is essential for improving your work. Even those who have no writing background can still offer a different perspective on your piece.

And, finally, sometimes we have to accept that a stubborn piece of writing will take more than a few word changes to fix. Sometimes it will need a full rewrite. And sometimes it will need to be tossed. If this is the case, don’t despair. No writing is wasted writing because the more we write, the more we improve.

What do you do when your editing doesn’t work?

Criticism vs Praise

People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.
--W. Somerset Maugham

As writers, we are an insecure lot. We need praise to validate the time we pour into our craft. We need someone to tell us we are getting it right.

But the problem with praise is that it won’t push us to do better. Praise won’t give us any new insight. We can’t learn from praise.

We also need to seek out constructive criticism. If we approach this kind of criticism like a learning tool, then it will push us to improve. It will help us to grow as writers. It will teach us where we might be getting things wrong. It will open our eyes to other perspectives.

Even established writers benefit from being open to criticism. We never stop learning.

What’s the worst kind of critique you’ve ever received? What’s the best?